Blue Ice
by WhisperedInTheSoundofSilence
Summary: Prince Blueblood and Rarity used to have a relationship. Now they don't, and Rarity has to deal with the consequences. (Mild AU, Rated T for themes)


Disclaimer:I don't own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

**Chapter One**

Rarity shivered in the cold as she slowly paced around outside of the soup kitchen in the metropolis of Canterlot. It wasn't open yet, but she was so hungry. And cold. Her breath making little puffs in front of her in the chill of the air.

She drew her cloak closer to her shoulders, the smell of wear and light sweat making it's way to her nostrils. Ew. No wonder no one wanted to hire her. Her mane was scraggly dark purple, her white coat a mess with dirt from sleeping outside, and she was sure she smelled a mess as well, if the shawl was any indication of the state of her odor...  
There was some movement behind the door, as it opened with the soft sound of creaking. Also the sound of a bell. She went in just as the first flakes of snow started to fall.

It was still cold inside, but a fire was beginning to be made in the corner of the room by another unicorn. Rarity smiled, and went over, beginning to warm herself with the strengthening flames. She shivered as she slowly began to feel the warmth seep into her body.

Ah.. that felt better.

She went up to the line, she was there first today. It seemed as though she was always hungry lately. She wondered why... perhaps it was just the cold. Or, well, she had been feeling a bit off in the weeks after her...entanglement...with Prince Blueblood. she wondered if she could perhaps be with child?

The thought made her cringe. With child? With nowhere to go, and nothing to eat? It would figure.

She sighed, getting her bowl of soup, and thanking the volunteer pony that worked there. She sat down, and began to drink the soup near the fire, feeling her lower stomach absently. If she was...she was very early along. She sipped more of the soup, gazing deeply into the fire. Perhaps she should wait to see what happens? This would be her first, and, she was still so young, barely out of school.

She thought back to her time in Canterlot. She thought for sure that she could start a design business here, that Blueblood would take her in...he had always been so nice to her in school. They had had a swift romance, the chemistry was hot and firey...up until she followed him here. Then, suddently, around the rest of nobility, he became aloof, and wanted nothing to do with her.

"The nerve..." she thought, feeling a gentle cramp in her bottom stomach.

Absently rubbing the small pain, she stood, and put the bowl in the basin for dirty dishes.

She remembered going to his house, it being splendid, even though it was in Ponyville. It was one of the best houses there, with servants, a foyer, a pool, everything one would want. His house in Canterlot was similar, all finery. He really did live a charmed life, even though he was just very distantly related to Princess Celestia. He had taken such good care of her at first. Why the shunning? He was probably embarrassed because she had no nobility in her blood. Just simple and from a simple family.

Well, at least now she looked the part.

Rarity walked back to the fire, still warming herself a bit, and drying off her cloak. It had rained the night before last, and the garment still wasn't all the way dry. Another pony sat down beside her, drying himself near the fire as well. His clothes were...a little finer than most that went in here, and she stole a couple of glances at him, before smiling shyly.

It wasn't that she didn't have her manners, she was just so embarrassed about the situation that she was in, that she didn't much feel like talking to other ponies. She had worked so hard to advance her station, and it had all been for naught.

"Say, are you looking to make some money, girly?" The male pony asked her, in a low tone of voice, as he moved to warm his hooves.

She was startled a little as he talked to her. "Yes. Do you have a proposition for me?" She asked, blinking a bit. What kind of a pony would look for employees in a place like this?

The male pony smiled a bit out of the side of his mouth, "Well, you look as if you could make a lot, if you cleaned up a bit. You're pretty. Suppose you come work for me at my business?" He placed his hoof gently on her thigh, and started rubbing lightly up her leg towards her rump.

Her face contorted to a barely-concealed look of disgust, as she jerked her leg away. "I'm not that kind of pony!" She said, as she stood, and moved out of the doorway. Harumph. The nerve! The only thing that she heard from the other pony was a laugh as she walked out. Pretty indeed.

Though, she could make money at that, but such work was a waste of her talents. She should be mending dresses, not working for some sleeze getting who knows what kind of diseases from "clients!"

The cold hit her after she had walked out, as she drew the cloak near herself again. She did feel a bit better after the food, but still so hungry. And she was only allowed to eat at the soup kitchen once per day... Might as well be breakfast, eh? She plodded slowly as the snow still fell, while looking up at the castle which was in the middle of the city. Was he there? Did he even still care about her? She stopped near a light pole, and chuckled to herself. 'Yeah, right, Rarity...he never cared about you to begin with. You were just a cheap fling to him, used, and tossed away...' She drew the hood up from the cloak, and started weeping in the cold, the tears falling onto the rapidly whitening sidewalk.

Like the crystals on her cutie mark, they almost seemed to freeze on their way down. Maybe that was to be her fate... to freeze to death? The cold of winter had only just begun. Here in the mountains it was colder than in the valley of Ponyville. She would go back if she could, but all her money had been strapped getting here... following her love.

Well, her previous love, anyway.

She turned and walked down an alley. The day was lightening up, even as the snow increased. She turned another corner to the right, then to the left. Going deeper into the alleyways of the city, she found what she was looking for, a cardboard box with a mat of straw at the bottom. There was an "R" in script writing on the side.

Home. It was where...she could afford. She sighed and entered the box, curling up on the straw shivering. Maybe this time when she went to sleep she could just never wake up. That would be nice, just freeze to death. She had read, after all, that meeting one's demise like that wasn't so bad, that you get warmer when you are near the door of oblivion... Maybe it would even be pleasant...

She shivered until her tiredness forced her into a fitful sleep, her eyes closing slowly, and her breathing becoming softer. Despite the cold and the exposure to the elements, she felt briefly safe, before drifting off.


End file.
